Perils & Sacrifice
by Qwertymann
Summary: Enjoying pizza on a quiet sunny day, the Titans are having a blast. But when a mysterious figure shows up taking the life of an innocent, will the following days really be so peaceful? ROBRK
1. Prologue

**Hey to you readers. For those who are currently reading my other stories: I am at a huge block and am unable to get past it at the moment. So, in the mean time, I'll work on a story that has been buzzing around in my head for a long time now. Beast Boy will be the central character in this story, just FYI. Enjoy!**

Perils & Sacrifice

Prologue 

Jump City was surprisingly quiet today. Almost too quiet for the Teen Titans. However, as any teens, they'd be sure to take advantage of something like this right away. It was a beautiful day out, so the team had decided to go out for a round of pizza.

"So this guy walks into this bar right, and he says OUCH!" cried Beast Boy, smiling to the Raven sitting next to him. She simply shook her head.

"Friend Robin, we only have few types of the so called 'toppings'. How come we do not explore the wondrous food that may be put on the pizza?" Starfire asked innocently to her boyfriend. As Robin went off explaining exactly why they stay limited on the pizza selection, Cyborg smiled inwardly to himself as he ate more pizza. Yes, he loved pizza and his friends easily and it was days like this he enjoyed most. His friends were happy, he had pizza, he was happy. And to top it all off, there was no crime happening today. Yup. Life is good. However, before Cyborg could put the slice of pizza in his mouth, it exploded, causing his hand to get singed.

"Okay, anyone else think that pizza SHOULDN'T explode?" The explosion was loud enough to gather attention of everyone currently dining at the pizza place – of those whose attention wasn't already being taken by the Titans' presence – and the awareness of the Titans as well. All was quiet, though. Too quiet. Robin gave a very subtle nod that only the Titans could pick up. Raven's power activated to sense any nearby presences. Cyborg's scanners activated to pick up heat signatures from all the people around. Beast Boy waited to take action, and Starfire and Robin were at the ready. Moments of silence that seemed to last forever went on and on. A small grunt was heard from behind Robin. He turned around quickly and jumped out of his seat, horrified at the sight before him. A girl was laying on the ground, with her throat cut open.

"What… EVACUATE!" Robin yelled at the top of his longs. The poor girl was on the ground bleeding. Robin prayed she had not yet passed. All the innocent people ran out extremely quickly accompanied by three of the five guards. The other two stayed in, readying their stun sticks. Raven was instantly at the girl's side, trying to heal her. Her face was completely stoic as she attempted to heal her, but felt the girl's life force completely slip away from her. It was too late. She stood up, keeping the sadness inside her. She shook her head slightly, enough for the Titans and guards to see. A sadness was brought over them for a moment, but a dark-dressed figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The figure pulled out multiple throwing knives and threw them at rapid speeds at of the Titans. Raven put up a quick barrier to protect them from any harm the daggers could possibly do. She lowered it after they had ceased fire, but the figure was gone. Attached to one of the thrown daggers was a piece of paper. Robin bent down and picked it up. He read it silently to himself, then aloud to his team.

"It says: 'You Titans have been around for too long. It's time you've met your match. Prepare yourselves, for the next week, you will all be put to the test to the best of your ability. You could not even keep the lady from dying. How can you save yourselves when you cannot even save the innocent?'" He stood for a moment of silence to let the words take affect.

"Dude… that… is… NOT COOL!" Beast Boy yelled at the top of his lungs. He ran up to Robin and snatched the paper with an evil look of hatred and he looked at it and ripped it into a million pieces. "Let's get OUT of here, NOW!" He yelled, and turned into a peregrine falcon and vanished into the air in a matter of minutes. Robin nodded to the rest of his teammates and they all took off. As Robin and Cyborg were in the car, there was something they both needed to discuss.

"Hey Rob, you think BB's gunna be okay?"

"I don't know. He is probably going to take this a lot worse than any of us. Can you talk to him when we get back?" Cyborg nodded.

"I'll try man. You know how he is with his feelings. He shrinks away to not talk about it whenever he gets asked."

"I know. It's surprising how long we've known him… we don't know much about him. Cyborg, by any means necessary, I want you to get him to talk to you about that kind of stuff whenever we're not working on this new mission." Cyborg sighed. "What?"

"You know I hate that kind of stuff man."

"I know you do, but you'd be the best. By the way, did you contact emergency?"

"Yeah I did. They'll be there in a few minutes." Cyborg sat silently for a moment, then got an interesting idea. "Hey, what if we try to get Raven to talk to him instead?" Robin looked at him as if he'd turned into a washing machine.

"What? You're his best friend… are you saying that just to weasel out of it?"

"No man I'm serious! Think about it. You and I both know he tries to spend as much time with Rae as he does with me. He's joking with her more than anyone else. I think if you 'ordered' Raven to do it, she would. Plus… I think guys talking about feelings is uh… weird."

"Cyborg, we've done that before."

"Oh yeah, but I hardly consider you a guy." Cyborg chuckled at a fuming Robin's expense.

"Is this honestly the time to be joking?" Robin half-yelled.

"No, you're right."

"No… you're right. I think Raven would be the best one to talk to him." Cyborg would wipe his brow, but he didn't want to look suspicious in front of Robin. After all, he was almost as bad as Beast Boy about talking about that kind of stuff. Raven, however, was NOT going to like this either. Robin was contemplating on exactly how to tell her while not sounding strict about it. It wasn't going to be easy. If Beast Boy were distracted and angry, then they'd have a very hard time tracking and taking out that person whom attacked earlier. Just like the time with the beast that could meld into the environment; they hadn't won that battle until Beast Boy had came to aid them. So one thing was for sure: he'd need to open up and be more secure on his feelings. That way, he would have a focused mind in the midst of battle. And that was important during this week. Who knows what that figure could have up their sleeve.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Frightening Chatting**

As soon as the T-Car pulled in, Robin had a few things to do before he confronted Raven with that order. He wasn't sure if he should tell Starfire about it or not. He figured he should keep it a guy thing with Cyborg for now… but if Starfire asked, he'd tell her about it. After all, he doesn't lie to his team. Especially his girlfriend. He proceeded in the common room, preparing the largest cup of water he was ever going to drink in his life. Starfire wandered into the room.

"Hello, Robin. I am very displeased that the lady had to… pass," Starfire said while a tear dripped down her face. Robin tenderly wiped it away. "But we will do well to make sure that it will not happen again." Starfire managed a small smile at her boyfriend.

"Of course, Star. Losing an innocent life is heavy on any hero… especially if it's one that the hero is meant to protect. But sometimes it happens, and sometimes we have to deal with that kind of thing. I just wish we could've put this kind of thing off for longer…" Starfire hugged Robin then let go.

"Yes. We will prevent it. Now excuse me, I must do the bathing now," Starfire said cheerily enough for Robin to not worry about her. She left, and Robin proceeded to consume the large amount of water he needed for making this order.

"Maybe I'm being irrational…"

"Talking to yourself? Oh man, ROBIN talking to himself! It's the apocalypse!" Cyborg's booming voice came from the door as he smiled widely.

"Cyborg, you got training today."

"WHAT?! I'm not supposed to train today. That's unfair. You abusin' the power you have as a defence mechanism against teasing. That goes against…" Cyborg pulled out a large book, at least 500 pages long, and opened somewhere in the middle. "Rules number 371, 379, 440, 500, and 501 of friendship code of conduct. You can't do that, sorry Rob." Cyborg smirked as he took out a rib from last night and threw it in the microwave.

"You win this time."

"As usual." Robin frowned as he continued drinking his water.

"I'm going… to… talk to Raven now."

"Ah, going to 'order' her to make Beast Boy open up?" Robin hung his head and walked out of the room. As soon as he was out of earshot, Cyborg dropped on the ground and could not contain his laughter. He'd like to see something like this, but his ribs in the microwave just dinged and his stomach was as empty as my wallet.

Robin approached Raven's door and knocked lightly. Raven opened her door, hood up, and eyes and face completely stoic.

"What?" she said in the driest voice she could muster.

"Raven, I need to talk to you. It has to deal with the mission." Raven only nodded, waiting for Robin to continue. "Okay. Well, you remember when Beast Boy was talking about that person of Terra he saw before?" Raven again nodded. "His focus was completely gone when that creature who could go into the environment unnoticed came about. And with his focus gone, we lost that battle. Many times."

"I still have the scar on my arm from when it cut it." Robin cringed. That was the first time he had seen any of his teammates bleed. Starfire was probably too tough to bleed, Cyborg was made of steel, and Beast Boy could change forms in matters of seconds to keep his skin sealed. Half-demon blood was, in fact, the same colour as normal blood. And a lot of blood she bled. Good thing she could heal herself, or else that would've been life-threatening bleeding. She took a good two weeks off from it.

"Yeah… anyway, Cyborg and I have come up with a theory." Raven raised her eyebrow, indicating the smallest amount of interest. "We believe he was so distracted because of how secluded his feelings are. He never talked about Terra much when she was gone, so when he did see her, if he really did, then he lost all his focus and tried to connect with her. We believe this is tied with his feelings."

"Oh. I can see the logic behind it. Is that it?" Raven went to close her door, but Robin prevented it by putting his foot in the way.

"Actually, no."

"Then what?"

"Well… as much as I don't ask you, I'd like you to talk to him about his feelings and get him to open up. If he does, his mind will be more focused because he won't always have to keep them locked up inside him." Robin held his breath, wondering what she'd say, or if she'd yell at him. He knew she couldn't refuse and he didn't like doing it one bit. Raven opened her door more.

"Wait. Why do you want me specifically to talk to him about this?"

"Because I figure you'd be the best one. Cyborg would constantly have to keep the tower's security in check, so he'd be busy. I'd always be monitoring for any suspicious activity on our city alarm monitors so we can be ready – the innocent life was lost, so I have to be ready at all times. Starfire… well…" Raven held up her hand.

"Say no more. If you're ordering me to do it, I have no choice. But you better know I'm not going to like it."

"I don't like asking you, Raven, but I have to."

"I understand."

"Alright. Thanks." Raven nodded again and Robin went off to prepare to train for a bit then work at the monitors. He would seriously need to spend all day and night on those things. It's not like it would be hard; he had done it on MANY occasions when Slade was around. Only this time it would be better because maybe Starfire could join him some time. He'd definitely have to ask her.

Meanwhile, Raven was doing a little bit more of meditation before she tried to do the unthinkable. She never questions her leader, or his logic, but she does get annoyed sometimes at the decisions he makes. Regardless, she stays as loyal as possible to any orders he may give out. Within reason, of course. She'd definitely need the extra meditation to prepare for this. Hell, she didn't even know what to say to him. Knock on the door and ask about his feelings? No, that wouldn't work with Beast Boy. Especially if she were the one to do that.

She'd have to take a more subtle approach. She got up and levitated out of her room and down the hall to Beast Boy's room. Stopping in front of it and hesitating briefly, she lifted her hand up and knocked twice on his door. The door cracked open and an eye peeked through, then the door opened fully and Beast Boy's completely neutral face was in sight.

"Hey, Raven." He said in that irritating, yet in some way soothing voice. Raven stared blankly at a loss for words. It doesn't take a genius to know she's not very social, which is no doubt why she is at a loss for words. She quickly formed a plan on the spot: she would get him to talk a lot and she would listen. Besides, _he_ has to open up. Not her.

"Want to hang out?" she couldn't believe she had just said that. Neither could Beast Boy, if his facial expression wasn't evident enough. He raised his fist and lightly tapped on Raven's forehead. "Don't," she warned threateningly.

"Sorry. I was just making sure you _are_ Raven. You are, right?" he sounded rather unsure. Raven sighed in annoyance. "Okay, sorry! It's just… you've never asked me to hang out before. It's weird. Are you sure you want to hang out with me? I mean, aren't I annoying to you in every possible way? I could've sworn…" Raven held up her hand.

"You're rambling… yes, I do find you annoying. But… that doesn't mean we should spend all our time apart from each other. You are annoying, but I can tolerate you. Which is a good thing… for you."

"Wow. You're right, Rae. We don't spend much time together when we're both not in the common room or fighting crime, do we?" Beast Boy put his hand on his chin and started pondering the situation. Raven nodded. "But like… we don't like the same things. Are you sure we should hang out?" Raven was puzzled at the question, and just a tinge hurt. Did he not want to hang out with her? Raven is no fool. She knows how much attention he devotes to her. It's nearly, or even as much – it is hard to tell – as attention he gives to Cyborg.

"Yes, I am sure. We can just… talk for now." Beast Boy gaped at Raven a second before shaking his head.

"Talk? About… what?"

"Things. I want to get to know you better." Raven hated lying. It wasn't really a lie though – she did want to get to know him better, but had no motivation or intent on doing it. But if getting him to talk about his feelings was meaning she had to learn about him, then so be it. Raven knew a significant amount about each other Titan, but she hasn't learned so much about Beast Boy before. It's not like it's easy to learn about him – he is so touchy about his past. The previous two or three times it has been brought up, he always got extremely defensive. Raven would have to be careful with her words.

"That's… cool," he said after a moment. "Want to like, stay here or go somewhere?"

"I think we should leave for now. If another attack happens today, we'll already be out of the tower and able to act quicker."

"Sounds good. One sec," Beast Boy said as he closed his door. Raven tapped her foot impatiently. The door opened and emerged Beast Boy again. "Ready. Where are we going?"

"To the park. It's nice out, and the park would be a nice place." Everyone on the team knew Raven really enjoyed being at the park. Almost as much as she enjoyed being inside her room. The park was always a quiet place. Even with children around – the park was big enough to give a good separation between the people. Of course, children always came to the Teen Titans and asked them questions or for their autograph. Most stayed away from Raven, but she was always kind to the ones who did talk to her.

Beast Boy smiled the first smile he had since Raven showed up. "I think the park would be pretty cool. Let's go," he said, walking down the hall. Raven followed, glad that he did not have any objection.

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were each in the common room. They heard Beast Boy telling a joke as it got louder and then died out when they were walking. Robin smiled inwardly and so did Cyborg. Starfire got very curious. Once his voice died down, Starfire got up and floated to the window, watching Beast Boy and Raven fly off.

"Where are friends Beast Boy and Raven going?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I don't know, Star," replied Robin.

"Perhaps we should do the following?" Cyborg started sweating because he knew what they were going to talk about and he didn't want to hear that kind of stuff.

"Uh… I just remembered! The T-Car needs an oil change!" he got up and sprinted out of the room.

"I am confused. Did not friend Cyborg replace the oil a couple of hours ago?"

"Yeah, he did. I know he changes it at least once every two days… maybe he didn't like the new oil or something." Robin shrugged and got up. "I don't think I'm in the mood to do some snooping today."

"Oh. If you are not, then perhaps you would like to accompany to the theatre of movies?" Robin smiled and walked up to his girlfriend.

"It's a date." Starfire smiled and kissed Robin on the cheek and dragged him out of the tower.

Beast Boy and Raven had just arrived at the park, getting some curious glances from a few civilians. They sat at a nearby empty bench, well away from anyone else. But still, there were always oglers.

"So Rae. Let's catch up then?"

"Okay." Beast Boy was mildly surprised at her acceptance to what he wanted to talk about, but he hid it well.

"Alright… uhh, how have you been the past few days?"

"You mean besides being annoyed by you?" Beast Boy grinned at her slightly, and she smirked a little. "Things have been okay. I had to visit Nevermore today because it was in a wreck. I had to talk to each one individually and calm them down. I'm glad Trigon is out of my mind, or else they'd have such a huge impact on how I act. It wasn't an easy task to calm them all down… but I managed to do it." Raven figured if she talked about how her emotions were fairing, then so should Beast Boy. "What about you? How is the murder affecting you?" Beast Boy stalled. He didn't want to get mad at Raven. That was how he got defensive when it came to his feelings. He falsified his anger. An angry Beast Boy was not one to mess with, as each and every Titan knows from the beast incident.

"Uh… I'll live. I just wish we could go back and change that…" he hung his head, feeling as if he failed the city. Raven felt sympathetic for him.

"Yes. But don't forget… every hero eventually will go through this. Even if it is a team of heroes, no one will be able to protect everyone forever. The loss of life is a heavy weight on all of us."

"But you don't understand!" Beast Boy cried out. Raven braced herself for irrational reasoning and self-pity. "You have no idea what kind of affect that has on me! You don't know what happened to me in my past… you couldn't even possibly BEGIN to understand why this hurts me so much! I… I don't want to accept it, Raven! I want to pretend that she's still alive! I want to go back and change everything…"

"Beast Boy…"

"It's just so unfair…"

"Beast Boy."

"I mean, she got killed…"

"Garfield!" Raven said, irritated.

"What?" Beast Boy knew he was in trouble some way. That's the only time she used his real name.

"None of us could have prevented that. It was a completely unexpected attack. We would have saved her life if we could. We couldn't do that… because this person, whomever they may be, is very dangerous from what we know. They have no sympathy for taking lives. Those are the most dangerous criminals. We _will_ bring them to justice no matter what." Beast Boy stared at Raven for a long time. Raven was slightly uncomfortable under his inquisitive stare, but she figured she would give him the benefit of the doubt and not say anything. She did understand how hard he was taking it. She could feel all the emotions protruding off of him. She was glad she could suppress that power when not needed – but now, she figured, it was needed.

"Okay, you're right… but that doesn't mean I can't take it badly. We failed our duty to protect a citizen… do you think one of those newspapers will show up saying that like… we're out of date or something? You know like with Spider-Man?"

"I don't think that will happen. The city wouldn't turn against veteran heroes. We have been here for four years."

"… I guess you're right." Raven never got tired of hearing that, no matter whom it came from or how much they said it. Of course, she never showed it.

"So, obviously something is bothering you about this. Why is it having such an affect on you?" Beast Boy's ears drooped.

"Rae, no offence, but I don't think I'm ready to talk about that," he said sadly. Raven could feel the sadness poor off him. She has felt sadness from him before – but it was always minor. This type of sadness, however, felt like grief to her.

"If you're not ready to talk about it, then it's fine."

"Okay… thanks." Raven nodded.

"Hey want to get some food? I'm starving."

"Okay… no tofu though."

"Gotcha," Beast Boy winked to Raven and the two left to go to some mystery restaurant that Beast Boy was picking. Raven was slightly nervous about it – what if he picked some restaurant that had no food she liked? She didn't worry too much about it. She had a bigger bone to bite anyway.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – How… 

The previous day was uneventful in every possible way. However, the next day, at about 4:50 AM, Robin received a call. He answered it immediately.

"Titans Headquarters, Robin speaking."

"Robin! It's Chuck," said a heavy voice on the other end. Robin remembered Chuck well – he was a pretty helpful police officer against many villains that the Titans had to capture.

"What is it?" Robin was hardly tired from staying up all night, always scanning the alarm screens for a second of suspicious activity.

"There… there have been two bodies found. Near the bank."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah. Two employees were delivering a truckload full of money to the bank. The bodies were found just on the corner of the street where the bank was. No witnesses as to how they'd been killed. No money is missing from the truck either. Apparently, whoever did it just wanted the two people dead.

"How do you know someone killed them?"

"I'm pretty sure cuts along both their throats are indication as to murder."

"We'll be there right away." Robin hung up and turned the alarm on. In a matter of seconds, each Titan was assembled in the common room.

"Titans! Two more murders," he said grimly. The silence that passed over seemed all too long…

"How…"

"I don't know. The alarm didn't go off. It should've the second the villain was even close to the truck. No money got stolen; just the lives. We're going to investigate the murder scene." There were unsure glances from each of the Titans, Beast Boy's being the most powerful. They all nodded eventually, and were off in the T-Car to the crime scene. No one said anything – the news was just too grim. Even Starfire was sad.

"I don't understand," Cyborg said, finally.

"What?" Raven responded.

"The alarms didn't go off. Robin didn't see anything on the screen. That's impossible. This alarm is almost as good as… y'know." Cyborg indicated Robin, who had his head buried in the manual for the Tower's security system, seemingly paying no mind to anything else around him. "His… trainer…" Cyborg wasn't too keen on mentioning him, but he cleared his throat and continued. "It should be absolutely flawless. Nothing can escape that system."

"Well apparently, whoever had killed the two bankers is better than that," Raven stated dryly.

"Dude, how do we stop them if we don't even know they're coming?" Beast Boy questioned. It was a question too hard to answer – no one could say anything to it, and Beast Boy sighed of sadness. The car finally arrived at the crime scene, and there were already detectives all around, studying the corpse, how they died, where the truck is – so many details that gave most of the Titans a headache. Robin walked up to the head investigator.

"Do you have anything? This villain we're dealing with is proving to be better than our security system."

"This villain," said the detective, "Is also incredibly good at this. We've been studying the scene since news came in about the bodies found. We haven't found anything – a clue, or not even a lead. There's been no witnesses, since we assume the murders have been in the dead of night." Robin nodded.

"What about the lady that got killed two nights ago?"

"We do have the murder weapon… but it's not helping. There's nothing on it to give us anything."

"Do you think the same person that killed the girl killed these two?"

"It's very possible. The same type of weapon was used. It's a unique dagger – very rare, and very expensive. Any blade collector would die to have one. As far as I'm concerned, only 1,000 of them have been made world-wide." Robin's eyes widened.

"So our murderer is using a rare expensive dagger, possibly more than one, to kill innocents for no reason. And they're good at hiding any evidence…" Robin trailed off, pacing. The detective's phone rang.

"Gran here," he said. He nodded. "Damn it. Are you kidding?" he hangs up the phone and looks at the Titans. "Another murder, reported downtown. A 12-year-old girl body was found lying in the dumpster behind her school." He hung his head and closed his eyes.

"This person is a lot better than we thought… thanks detective." He nodded again and Robin turned around to the other four waiting. "Okay. Apparently, this person is good. Really good. We're going to have to call in some backup… and not only that, but we're also going to need to be patrolling the city non-stop. They're dangerous – the most dangerous type of criminal who can exist. The one that kills with no mercy, and no reason. It's ruthless tactics. A motive would be next to impossible to find other than killing for the sheer pleasure of it. Whoever we're dealing with needs to be taken down. Everyone start patrolling the city. I'll stay here and patrol to the eastern end of the city. Beast Boy, you take here and go to the western end.

"Raven, I want you to contact the honorary Titans – get as many as possible with teleportation. Cyborg, you go from here to the north end, and Starfire you take here to the south. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Titans, Go!" And each Titan was off to perform their designated duty.

Beast Boy was half way through patrolling to the western end when a figure showed up in his path. He instantly didn't like them, and got ready to change into whichever animal the situation would call for. But he waited. The figure was dressed in an all-white uniform, and a white hood that was adorned with red and gold on it – they were jewels. None of their face could be seen except the eyes. Beast Boy could tell from body parts it was a male. He raised his hand, and from seemingly nowhere a dagger was speeding towards Beast Boy. He turned into a turtle in record time and his shell deflected the dagger. He turned into a cheetah and sped towards the white figure. He dropped a bomb and lots of smoke appeared.

Beast Boy quickly morphed into a bloodhound to sense his smell, but he couldn't find anything. He felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned and noticed the figured. He jumped at him and clawed his chest successfully – the cloth was torn and his chest was exposed, with lots of blood running down it. But he didn't seem too fazed by it, as he still moved nearly as fast as Beast Boy did in cheetah form. Beast Boy transformed into a t-rex, and started thrashing his tail about. But in a moment, he fell and bashed his face on the road. He turned around and saw a knife at his throat.

"Don't move," the person snarled. Beast Boy held is breath.

"Who are you?"

"Who am I? I am insignificant. Listen closely: I am not the only. I am not even considered one of the best."

"Not the only?"

"Haha. You're going to have to be a little better than that. Our battle showed me much about you. You are very skilled, but you cannot even compare to me. Or the others."

"Others… you mean, you're not the only?"

"Good detective work."

"Why would you tell me that?"

"I have my reasons. It doesn't matter what you know, because no matter what happens, you'll never be able to stop us. We've already proved exactly how much better we are with the murders. You couldn't stop them, or even see one coming for that matter. Eventually, all heroes will fall. No matter how respected they are, there will always come somebody, or a group of people, that will stop those heroes. Then what happens then? You will know true fear. I will spare your life for now, so you can know what true grief is. I know that you're taking those murders worse than any other Titan. It'll drive you mad."

"NO!"

"Hahahahah! It's too late. You will never win…" smoke appeared before Beast Boy's eyes and he could feel the pressure go away on his neck. He stood up, and once the smoke cleared he looked around. He pulled out his communicator to contact the other Titans.

"Guys! One of them just attacked me!"

"What? One?!"

"Yeah! Apparently, we're dealing with a whole bunch of these freaks. And let me tell you – they are GOOD at fighting. He almost killed me, but spared my life. He said something about knowing true fear. And… and… he said all heroes fall at some point. He said there will be someone or some people better than us."

"He doesn't know the Titans!" Robin tried to encourage. But maybe he was right… maybe there will always be someone better out there.

"Yes… maybe the back of up we are to call in should help us to defeat and put away these people?" Starfire asked.

"It should. We have to make sure no more innocent lives get lost. Titans, regroup at the bank. Gran called me and I was about to call you, but apparently he found something." The line closed and each Titan proceeded back to the crime scene, hoping that something helpful is available to them now.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Impossibility**

"We've got some smudged prints on the dagger. Very small, very hard to detect. They are hard to determine whose exactly they could be." Gran sighed as he explained this. _The green one looks as if he's going to cry…_Gran thought to himself. "It isn't much, but it's better than anything else we have." Robin nodded.

"Raven, which of the honorary Titans have you contacted?"

"So far, I got Kid Flash, Jinx, and Hotspot. They should be here within 48 hours."

"How come so long for Kid Flash and Jinx?"

"They're apparently on a vacation in Denmark," Raven said and rolled her eyes. Robin sighed.

"This is worse than I thought. You can't teleport?"

"No. I haven't gotten nearly enough meditation for it this whole week. It'd be faster if they just flew here." Before anything else could be said, smoke bombs started dropping all around the Titans and Gran and the investigators. Soon, coughing was heard. It was no ordinary smoke. The coughing sounded as if someone would be dying from a sickness – no one could do anything. No one could focus. After a moment, the smoke cleared, and Gran's body lie, lifeless. The Titans and the investigators were all staring, amazed, disgusted, and filled with sorrow. A shriek was heard from what one would expect Starfire to make, but it came from Beast Boy.

"We… we… need to evacuate the city… and put guards at every possible exit… many police officers, and an honorary Titan. Everyone else needs to get out of the city." The two investigators each got out a cell phone and started calling the people who could do just that. Robin sighed. He knew Beast Boy would be a much better fighter against whomever attacked him if he were on par with his feelings. He turned around.

"Starfire, Cyborg and I are going to help evacuate people out of the city. Raven, Beast Boy, I want you two to return to the tower. Don't go separately; stay together. Don't teleport so you can conserve your energy if you get attacked." Raven nodded and Beast Boy looked slightly confused. Raven knew why he would designate them to return to the tower. "I'm also going to call more honorary Titans while we evacuate."

Raven started walking, but Beast Boy was still standing there. "But… dude! That one guy… he kicked my butt…"

"Yes, that's why you're returning to the tower. If you haven't noticed, you're bleeding in your back." Beast Boy put his hand behind his back and brought it in front of his face and paled slightly.

"Oh man… owww… it hurts…"

"Adrenaline can do strange things to one," Raven said. She put her hand on his back, which was presumably close to his butt; she blushed slightly, and healed his wound. Of course it wouldn't fully close, due to her power not being at maximum efficiency. "Look, let's get back to the tower and then I can close the wound back there, okay?"

"Oh… alright." Before he went, Robin put his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and turned him around.

"Beast Boy, I've always been wondering… can you close a wound by morphing into an animal? That's the first time I've seen you bleed." Beast Boy smiled slightly.

"Actually, I can't. I normally just avoid all wounds that would cause me to bleed. I got unlucky this time because I couldn't see him attack from behind."

"Okay."

"Yeah. See ya later."

"Wait, one more question."

"What is it?" Beast Boy asked, turning around again and having a neutral face.

"What was that person who attacked you dressed in?"

"Oh… he had all white on. And his mask-hood thingy had some gold borders around it, and some red jewels on it. It looked really weird. He also told me that he wasn't considered one of the best."

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem. Now if you wouldn't mind, Rae and I are gunna go…" he leaned in closer to Robin and whispered something and winked. Robin paled slightly and turned around. "It was a joke man!"

"Please, I wish to hear the joke to increase my spirits," Starfire said sadly. Beast Boy frowned at her. He walked up to her and whispered the same thing and winked. Raven sighed at this, not sure if she wanted to know what he said or not. Starfire giggled and blushed. "Thank you, friend." She hugged him lightly before he and Raven took their leave. Cyborg stared at Robin and Starfire for a moment. He then burst out laughing.

"What?" Robin said, irritated.

"I heard that! It was great!"

"Grr…" Robin was thinking something along 'Stupid ultra-sonic hearing' as Cyborg was laughing.

"It was quite the enjoyable joke, was it not?" Starfire said and smiled brightly at Cyborg. Cyborg nodded. Robin just shook his head. At least Beast Boy had a way to lighten the mood, just like always.

"So… do I want to know what you told them?" Raven asked Beast Boy, who was whistling. At least he was in a good mood. Well, he was trying to be. Raven could still feel some deep grief within him.

"Probably not. You might hurt me. It was to cheer everyone up."

"When have I ever hurt you for something you said?" Raven stated blankly.

"Well, there was that… no, you didn't then. OH! How about… nope. You never really do hurt me, now that I think of it." Raven smiled a tiny amount. Of course, at this point, Beast Boy noticed her tiny smiles. "Hey! I got you to smile!" He grinned widely, and Raven's smile disappeared and she sighed.

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"True. But I'm not going to rest until I get one of those smiles where I can see your teeth." He smiled widely to demonstrate. "Like this." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for showing me, it's not like I didn't know."

"I was just making sure with how little you smile."

"I suppose… I guess you're not going to tell me what you said, are you?"

"Nope," said Beast Boy cockily, whistling some more. It unnerved Raven slightly. "Hey, how come Robin asked you to come with me?"

"Someone needs to close your wound."

"That's true, but wouldn't Cy be better at something like this? I mean he's the one who works in the med lab when one of us gets injured."

"That may be true, but I have healing powers to help speed up your recovery. We need you healed as fast as possible in order to help us take out this dangerous threat. I'm surprised you can walk with a wound like that," Raven said.

"Well, it doesn't hurt all that much. The only thing it's doing is irritating me. I want to scratch it, but I know I shouldn't. Hey, how come you didn't just heal it right up back there?"

"I… couldn't work in those conditions very well. Not with a dead body so near. It made me weaker. Plus, I haven't meditated too much. If I'm in a comfortable environment, I'll be able to heal much more efficiently," she explained.

"Ohh, I see. Man, no one is around. Those detectives must be better than I thought."

"Well, when innocent lives are at stake, and we… can't do our job too well, then the city needs to be evacuated as soon as possible. Back-up needs to be called in."

"You're right. This is the most dangerous criminal we've ever dealt with. I mean, not even Trigon killed innocents. He just turned them into stone. These guys are so much worse." Raven nodded, with all kinds of thoughts buzzing around in her head now. What do these mysterious criminals want? Surely, it can't be domination of the city. Of the world maybe? Or maybe they just have a lust to kill people. The two walked the rest of the way to the tower in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Beast Boy was at least getting distracted now, Raven noted. His pain was put away, and she was happy for that.

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were not fairing too well. They were currently in combat with one of the criminals. It was a female and she was giving the Titans hell, and enjoying it too. She moved at speeds that were impossible to comprehend, and the Titans weren't even sure if the speed was possible to achieve on legs. She also had a whole arsenal of dangerous weapons that the Titans had to dodge in order to keep their lives. Robin quickly pulled out his bo-staff and rushed her, swinging down hard. She easily dodged it. She was also extremely good at hand-to-hand combat; better than Robin. She could easily take him down, even when he had help. She struck behind Robin's knee and kicked him in the face when he kneeled. Starfire charged in, blasting starbolts. The criminal did a backflip, dodging all the bolts flawlessly. However, she misjudged how many Starfire had fired, and one of them singed her leg. She fell, letting out a small shriek of agony. She got many smoke bombs and the area got filled with smoke.

"Oh not, not this time!" Cyborg yelled, activating his infrared vision. He scanned the area, but there was no figures other than Robin and Starfire to be found. He sighed. Suddenly, he fell to the ground face first. "Argh! That's it! You messed with THIS robot for the last time!" He turned on his back quickly and started blasting his sonic cannon. This garnished to result other than a few falling rocks from the nearby building.

"Titans! Regroup!" Cyborg and Starfire neared Robin, and the smoke finally cleared. She was standing on the other side of the road, just staring at them all. Well, she was stalling right now. And Robin was trying to think of a plan how to beat her. The three together couldn't take _one_ down, and Robin sighed slightly. They had to beat her. Some how, they had to. He was busy thinking of a plan, and she started chuckling. Eventually it grew to a full laugh.

"Is that the best you have to offer?" she asked. No one responded. "It's such a shame. The famous Teen Titans can't even take one of us out. Ohh wait, your whole group isn't here. I apologize. Maybe you could _all_ take me out, if you tried hard enough." Robin was gritting his teeth. He really wanted to run out and try to pummel her, but he knows what result it would end up in. He would run, miss his swing, she would probably deliver a few hard punches, and he would fall to the ground in pain. He kept his cool. Well, his next best option was psychological war. Maybe he could wheeze some knowledge out of her.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? What do _I_ want? How kind of you to ask. What I want does not matter. What I think is insignificant. Everything I do is for the greater cause. Once you realize just who we are, you will wish you had never come to protect Jump in the first place. You think Trigon was a tough enemy? Hahah! That fool didn't have any plans. He was fueled on anger, and bent on domination. He was blinded by that.

We, however, have better planning than him. We cannot be defeated. If you can't expect to take one out, how can you expect to take even two out? Or ten? Or a whole army? You will not be able to win. It's only a matter of time before our ultimate plan is put into affect. Now, I must go. I have played with you long enough. You have a taste of what we're made of. You should know what true fear is by this point." And with that, she disappeared. The Titans stood there, shocked.

"What… what did she mean?" Asked Starfire, in hopes of an answer.

"I wish I could tell you. She was just… toying with us? What for?" The answers just seemed to escape the Titans as they stood there, unable to collect their thoughts, too shocked by the battle and revelations – of what little revelations they had. Still… it was something to go on for them, and Robin was ready to look into it.


End file.
